Extreme Wakeboarding

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Newcomer Wild Child Studios hopes to take the PS2 by storm with their hardcore Wakeboarder.

By Jeremy Dunham

The trials and tribulations of being a young publisher is a difficult one. With few financial backers and generally small teams, being an upstart minnow in a world of sharks can be tough. But despite all the hardships and challenges, Wild Child Studios is striving to make its mark in a big way. Directly challenging the Hardcore Sports market with its "came from nowhere" offering entitled Extreme Wakeboarding, Wild Child has arrived.

While the version we had was still in its early demo form, the water effects were certainly impressive. Given only a single character on one course, it still gave us a strong impression of the type of undulating movement the developers were shooting for. One of the more realistic representations of the riding the waves we've seen in a long time, the engine appears pretty solid.

Set up like most Tony Hawk and Dave Mirra wannabe's, Extreme Wakeboarding is rather straightforward: Hop on your board, attach yourself to the boat, and circle the treacherous course in a given time limit. While circling, you must jump specific markers and buoys while performing tricks for extra points, and avoid the various obstacles like barriers and centrifugal force. Easy as it may sound, pulling of the stunts is no walk in the park.

Variable tricks like the Air 360, Tantrum, Front flip, and Half Cab Roll are every bit as difficult as they sound. Rather than just pushing a button and busting out a combo as in other extreme titles, Wild Child's boarder forces you to compensate your landing to the nth degree. You might pull that Bunny Hop off just fine in the air, but if your landing sucks¿ forget about it.

Graphically, the game needs some work. The distant backgrounds are blurry and the closer foreground objects are rather flat and un-detailed. Character models are decent enough but could definitely use some additional animation. The water on the other hand was extremely impressive and matched the movement of the waves perfectly. We also dug the way the sun gleamed off of its peaks and were generally pleased with how the big wet tracks are turning out. Hopefully the other graphical issues will be addressed before completion.

Still a long way off before being finished, Extreme Wakeboarder is a somewhat ambitious step forward for Wild Child Studios. While it may not have the same exposure as a Tony Hawk or Jeremy McGrath, it hopes to build a solid fan base nonetheless. Check back with IGN over the coming months for more.